Capital City Nine - USA: Washington - 186 to go.




May 4th 2011
USA - Capital City: Washington. Picture with a local Policeman.
186 Capital Cities to go

The opportunity to head down to Washington occurred when I was visiting my mum in Florida, I decided to travel the 908 miles to reach the capital by train. My brother and his wife dropped me off at Tampa train station where I was to catch the 22 hour train journey to Washington.
As I sat waiting for the train, opposite me were two white men in their fifties which looked stereotypically from Florida, it does joy me when I see stereotypical people; both had long shorts on; a checked shirt; a baseball cap and white socks pulled up with sandals. Next to me was a black man in his twenties, who spoke far too loudly on his phone and the conversation consisted of him talking to 'his bro, that he was heading to the big bear, no shit bro, no shit, and bro if that what the bitch wants then nigger, you gotta give her what she wants, no shit bro!'
Thankfully when I boarded the train I went to zone 3, the bro went to zone one - no shit!
I love travelling by trains, and if I had to choose any type of travelling it would always by train. There is something romantic about train journeys I think, the way you travel through places on the outskirts of cities, however with an elderly Hispanic women who sat next to me; reading her bible, then snored whilst she slept, and the fat man who sat behind me who insisted on using my chair instead of his own legs to pull himself up, my romance of the train journey was slowly fading.


Train Journey - paper indicating which stop you get off at.

As I was only staying in Washington one night, I decided to stay in a hostel, as some of the reviews of the hotels I saw stated, that the reception in the hotel was behind bullet proof glass - erm thanks but no thanks.
So I stayed in Capital View Hostel just off 3rd street, was planning to get my photo after I had napped and showered, as there were people in uniforms in abundance, however I spied my local guarding Urban Outfitters door, with another guy so it was easy to get the photo without having to try grab another person.
I then headed to the White House to have a looksey, and had an explore around Washington.

The good thing about Washington that it's so easy to get around - ie you can't get lost, the streets are on a grid system, so there is 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th street etc.. then the other way, A, B, C, D street etc... The downside I thought about Washington was that I found it a bit intimidating.
Standing at traffic lights and being told 'Hmmmm, Hmmmm I'd like to get me some of that' and being looked up and down, wasn't my idea of fun! I also saw a man steal some razors, and get taken to the floor by the police whilst he radioed for backup. Gulp!!


The White House

Coke Wagon



Just to make it clear....

Following day looked around the Art Musuem and Archive Musuem, then made by way back to the Station to make the 908 mile journey back down to Tampa.

Union Station

Union Station flags

Capital City Eight - Norway: Oslo. 187 to go.



October 24th 2010
Norway - Capital City: Oslo
Picture by myself at Oslo Airport as no uniformed locals the entire trip.
187 Capital to go.

Had never been to any Scandinavian countries before,  so was looking forward to this Oslo capital. Stayed at Rico hotel in the centre of Oslo, the room was really weird with having no window to look outside, instead two sides of the room were glass and the view to be able to look down at the massive restaurant. I did wake up on the first night in a panic, thinking if there was a fire how the hell was I going to escape?
I had heard Oslo was expensive and it sure was - one drunken night saw me spend £30 on chocolate snacks, and if you ate and drank your way through the mini bar then that would set you back nearly £50!!

£30 worth of snacks!!

Hotel mini bar

The first night I was knackered from travelling, so went out for a couple of drinks and went back to the hotel and ate some of my  £30 party - very slowly! And watched Norwegian 'X factor'.

'The ginger version of Dermot O'Leary'

I was quite lazy in Norway and just wandered around, the streets were spotless, I walked along the waterfront, along back streets where there were some cool smaller shops, then back along the busier part. I stopped for a hot drink, it was about -4C in the day time, even though it was cold it was sunny, I  sat outside the restaurant, each restaurant had blankets on the chairs so you could wrap yourself up whilst you sat and ate or drank. I loved that idea.
In the evening I went for dinner, a glass of wine, a beer, pizza and a salad cost about £50. I had done some research before I went and found this club that had been rated quite good, after paying to get in, I  stayed for 5 mins, it reminded me of a really 80's yuppie club, it was really tiny and pretentious. I wandered a bit and found a busy bar 'Ett Glass' I went in, it was heaving.
 After awhile I noticed that apart from me, I only spied two other women - that would be a gay bar I had ended up in.
Had a couple of drinks and then headed back towards the hotel, further down the street I spied people queueing to get into a bar, I thought that, that must be a busy good bar so joined the queue, when I got to the front, I was actually queuing for the Snowboard convention evening, I was lead through to the other side of the bar. Down these steps I found the busiest sweatiest little club with a live band playing, Every hour found me stripping off another layer of clothes and I ended up at the front of the dance floor till after 3am!

Sweaty man on stage.

The following day,  I had a bit of a panic that I had found no uniformed local - even went into shops looking for security guards - nothing!! I think it's one of the few capitals where I've not even seen any police.

Picture of Oslo Train station where I also went looking for uniformed people.

Capital City Seven - Netherlands: Amsterdam. 188 to go.

July 22nd 2010
Netherlands - Capital city: Amsterdam
Picture with two local Policewomen
188 Capital Cities to go.

Was looking forward to Amsterdam, as my friend lives there with her boyfriend, and  was looking forward to a jolly good catch up!! I stayed in the Fashion Hotel for a couple of reasons, one being; all the capitals I've stayed in, have all been in walking distance to everything, so wanted to stay on the outskirts and navigate the tram service, second reason I got it for an absolute steal from booking.com.I  got there in the afternoon and decided to head straight into the city, where I decided to be real tourist like; and see, taste and hear the sounds of Amsterdam.

The next day I went and walked round Amsterdam and went to see my friend at work, (V!P's International Art Galleries) which is such a lovely art gallery, I arranged to meet up later, her boyfriend had borrowed a boat and they were going to give me a tour from the canals.
They arrived with wine and snacks laid on in the middle of the boat, and we got a drive through pizza, we rang on ahead, (I say 'we' my friend's boyfriend did, I sadly only know one word in Dutch, and that is 'to nap'), there is a window in the pizza place, which over looks the canal and you steer you boat to the window and pick up your pizza.

view from canal boat

We spent the rest of the evening in a house which my firend was house sitting, it was truely amazing with views across the whole of Amsterdam, the hall alone would fit my house in twice!! It was on the way back to the hotel when I got my photo with the two policewomen, as like most dutch women they were really tall, and I had to actually stand on the step behind them for the picture so I didn't look short.

The following day, I headed to the area of Amsterdam where the vintage shops were and to the library - which you must visit - on average it has 7000 visitors a day, (one fact slipped in), it's a beautiful building with a restaurant on the top and Macs through out the building.
To get to the Library, you come out of the train station go left and follow the road round. Spent the rest of the day wandering through the streets of Amsterdam.
At the moment Amsterdam is my favourite capital, it reminds me of London and Paris mixed. I love the amounts of bikes lying around, and the way you strap your children on them.

Two seats to strap your babies on.

The next day I were heading home, I gave my tram ticket away at the train station as we had one day left on them, this amercian women took it, and said 'gawd bless you huni, if your ever in New Orleans, I'd be happy to show you around' erm yeah, okay luv!